1. Gameplay

2. Development

3. Reception

4. Legacy

5. References

6. External links

Chaos: The Battle of Wizards is a turn-based tactics video game released for the ZX Spectrum in 1985. It was written by Julian Gollop and originally published by Games Workshop. Based on Gollop's 1982 design for a card game, Chaos received positive reception and went on to influence various games, including Darwinia and King's Bounty, and spawned a sequel, Lords of Chaos, in 1990.

Gameplay

In the game Chaos, players take the role of wizards who vie with one another to win the game. The aim of the game is to be the 'last wizard standing' by destroying all other wizards. The game allows for anything between two and eight wizards, any of whom can be human or computer controlled. The level of the computer-controlled wizards must be selected, ranging from 1 to 8. Higher levels improve the computer wizards' combat statistics, but does not improve their artificial intelligence. Computer-controlled wizards do not cooperate; they will attempt to kill each other as well as the human players.

Each wizard is given a random selection of spells at the start of the game with which to defeat the other wizards. Spells are either Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic, and have a difficulty value expressed as a percentage chance of success when cast. A spell can only be cast once, with the exception of the "Disbelieve" spell which is always available to every wizard. New spells can only be acquired via the "Magic Wood" spell. During the game, the type of spells cast affects the subsequent difficulty of other spells. Casting many lawful spells results in a more lawful environment, which in turn makes other lawful spells easier to cast. The same principle applies to chaotic spells. Spells of the opposite alignment are not more difficult to cast however. Neutral spells are unaffected either way, and are always cast at the same difficulty percentage. This feature has a big impact on the strategy of the game, as a viable tactic is to cast lots of easy spells of a certain alignment, in order to make it easier to cast the more powerful spells of that alignment.

Spells fall into various categories and have various ranges. Creature spells summon a monster adjacent to the wizard, which can then be moved in the movement phase. Some creatures are harder to cast than others, with the more powerful creatures having a lower base percentage chance to cast. Creatures have attack and defense ratings which govern how effective they are, move ratings which control how many squares they can move a turn, maneuver ratings which govern how easily a creature can break off combat and magic resistance for governing defense against magical assaults. Wizards also have these ratings, as well as a magic rating governing how many spells they initially have. Several spells create objects on the board. A player may also receive spells that improve his wizard, such as "Magic Sword" or "Shadow Form", or spells that directly attack other creatures, such as "Magic Bolt" or "Vengeance".^[1]

Each (human) wizard takes it in turn to view the board (if desired), examine their spells and select one to cast on the next turn (selecting a spell is not compulsory). Typically, the other human players look away during a spell choice to avoid an unfair advantage. Once all players have chosen their spell, they attempt to cast them in order. Whereas the human players select their spells before each turn begins, the computer wizards actually select their spells during the play stage of each turn. This is not documented, although it becomes apparent in play, as the computer wizards often cast spells that would have required foreknowledge of the other players' actions. Once all spells have been cast, surviving wizards take it in turns to move themselves and any creatures under their control (unless they are 'engaged' in combat), and attack other wizards/creatures.

Other creatures or wizards are attacked by either moving into them, or flying onto them. Moving or flying next to an enemy creature automatically 'engages' them, and allows for an immediate attack. If an attack is successful the enemy creature disappears/dies and the attacking creature moves onto its square. Flying onto a creature allows an attack, but the flying creature remains in place unless it succeeds in killing its target, in which case it takes its place as above. Success depends on the attacking creature's combat rating against the defending creature's defense rating and a certain amount of randomness. Some creatures have ranged combat, allowing them to attack other creatures from afar, so long as there is a clear line of sight. Once all wizards have taken it in turn to move and fight, the turn sequence starts over from the beginning. For human players, no actions are compulsory, they may simply skip any actions they do not want to take. Computer-controlled wizards will always move, unless in a Magic Wood, Castle or Citadel, even when it is not in their best interest to do so. Likewise all computer-controlled creatures always attempt to move each turn. If a wizard is destroyed, all his creations immediately vanish too.

Development

External links

• {{moby game|id=/chaos|name=Chaos}}
• {{WoS game|id=0000894|name=Chaos}}
• {{dmoz|Games/Video_Games/Strategy/Turn-Based/Chaos_-_The_Battle_of_the_Wizards}}
• A USENET message describing the internal structure of Chaos and naming the missing spells
• Chaos Online, detailed analysis of Chaos and discussion of Chaos Reborn

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